I have a friend of a friend who, upon hearing I've been building rods, said he used to build them too, way back when.

Get this. He didn't use two part expoxy on the guide wraps. He used nail polish.

I guess it would work, but for how long? When I spend $200 on components, I'm not going to try to save $10 on the expoxy. I've only built two rods so far, and I'm not a snob, but has anyone ever heard of using nail polish? I guess if you didn't like how it turned out, you can always break out the acetone.

Have used it to make a repair while on a trip for a friend. The thread is what provides most of the guide strength. The finish is to protect the thread.

Regards......Doug@
TCRds

I understand that some bamboo rod makers have used lacquers for wraps in the past in preference to varnishes. I believe because of the faster drying time. So not that crazy a question.

Okay, I will admit it. I am an old guy and I have used nail polish on guide wraps.
In the late 50's and early 60's. Everybody did not have enough money to order stuff from the Orvis rodbuilding store, which was the only know outlet at that time.
We used nail polish over silk thread for bamboo repairs and sometimes nail polish over nylon for fiberglass repair and sometimes even a new rod built on the cheap. As far as I know wrap epoxy was not even avaliable then All I had access to was the Gudebro stuff at the local Westen Auto. It was not greatly superior to nail polish.

How does nail polish work? Not real well. Since it is lacquer it does give a different and maybe even better color than epoxy. It drys fast. But it is not really waterproof and after several years it needs redoing. Nail polish with a few coats of varnish over it is better.

Now I use epoxy. I can do nice wraps with varnish, but frankly like the look of a good epoxy job better. Now I use the nail polish for fly heads (Just kidding, but that is what we used in the old days for that also.)

A quick plug for Klass Kote epoxy paint. Applies like a varnish but has the benefits of epoxy. I have currently using Gudebrod 840 as an undercoat (no smell, dries fast) and 1 coat of Klass Kote paint for the top coat.

Hey Steve. . . I'm a 3rd generation rod builder in my late 60s. I remember my Dad and my Grandfather using nail polish. Recently, I was given an old rod made of hickory, which was made by my Grandfather. When I was removing the old guides from the rod, I noticed that he had used nail polish to cover the thread. I didn't laugh when I was removing the guides. . . I did have a big grin on my face and chuckled to myself and thought, "boy we've come a long way." I was told many years ago that when my Grandfather built a rod from hickory, he'd trim it down with a piece of broken glass from a coke bottle. We have come a long way.

Epoxy finishes didn't really hit the rod building market until Roger Seiders at Flex Coat and Gene Bullard at Bullard Int., began pushing them in the late 70's. Prior to that laquers were used. Because nail polish is basically a similar product, it was often used in a pinch on guide wraps. Applied well, it can last for many seasons but did not last as long as most of our modern epoxy finishes do.

.........

After the war I attended the university of Montana in Missoula, and sometimes lived in the college dorm. I built several bamboo rods in that dorm, I never planed the blanks in those days, simply purchased the blank bamboo and made the rod. I always used fingernail polish as the thread finish. Thread in those days was always silk. I built one of the first fiberglass rods in existence from a Herters Kit. Jacque L Herter had a standard line in his catalogues which went something like "don't confuse this product with the ordinary, it is vastly superior to anything similar on the market", actually most of the Herter stuff was very good quality. The first Herter kits for building rods were far beyond anything you could find at the local sporting goods store, and there were no rodbuilding distributors in those days. The first kits contained a bottle of fingernail polish for the thread finish, later they changed to their own patented superior do not confuse with the ordinary finish. These Herter rod building kits contained a rod blank made by the Phenolic process which went out of favor after the war when Polyster came into the market. I still have some phenolic blanks and they are far more rugged than anything built today. A few years ago I stripped an old Powell Process Polyster blank that had been finished with fingernail Polish. The threads were about fifty years old, and the fingernail polish was still going strong. I remember it as a brilliant red, and it hadn't lost any of its lustre. Why should it? Fingernail Polish in the past was the same identical lacquer as was sprayed on automobiles. I'm not sure what it is today, but surely they have improved it. I don't use fingernail polish today, there is no need because we have Permagloss, but I wouldn't hesitate usuing it in an emergency----say a stream side repair or some such panic situation.
Ralph

In the late 40's and through the fifty's and sixty's I used fingernail polish (clear) as a color preserver with varnish over it. I have friends using Herter's fiberglass fly rods today that I built that way. It worked very well under the circumstances.

Oh jeez, Ralph, you were a grizzly?? Just knocked ya down a peg off the "legendary" shelf; I wuz a bobcat!!

Putter
Williston, ND

A " true " lacquer will dry and tend to become brittle over time. These are the ones used on cars in the 30's and 40's . Most paints are maybe a lacquer base, but more like fast dry urethanes that stay flexible.

Putter, I would have never guessed Ralph attended the "Dancing Academy". He seems more like a regular guy from, "Moo U".

Stan Grace
Helena, MT
"Our best is none too good"

It shocked me, too, Stan!

Putter
Williston, ND

Hey, watch what you say about the Griz!! When I was there they won one football game in two years.

I've never tried it on a rod, but Sally Hanson's Hard-as-Nails is commonly used for fly tying, possibly by more people than use anything else, and it holds up quite well. I would think that a base treatment (four coats, excess wiped off, applied over 48 hours) of thinned spar or spar mixed with walnut oil(alkyd) for penetration and translucency, followed by clear Hard-as-Nails, would be pretty durable if you didn't want to wait for three to four top coats of spar to cure. It wouldn't be as durable for hard use applications, like saltwater, but it would hold up for many years on a fly rod or light spinning rod and would be a lot easier to remove if the guides ever needed replacement. There are other readily available, one part, fast curing finishes available, such as Gudebrod 822, and Helmsman urethane varnish(among others) dries pretty fast, so I don't really see the need, except for emergency repairs. I might try it as an experiment, though, just to see how it compares.